ideologist, sovereignist and pragmatist(*)
Although Khomeini was an ideological force behind the revolution that ended the reign of the Pahlawich monarchy, it was Chamenei who formed a military and paramilitary apparatus that both defends Iran against its enemies and provides him with influence far beyond its borders.
Before becoming the ultimate leader, as president, he led Iran through a bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s. Analysts say that the devastating conflict, coupled with the sense of isolation of many Iranians, erstwhile Western countries supported Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, deepened Chamenei's mistrust for the West, and in peculiar for the United States.
This conviction was to form the basis of his decades of government and to consolidate the thought that Iran must stay in constant defence against external and interior threats.
"People think [of Iran] as a theocracy due to the fact that [Chamenei] wears turban and the language of the state is simply a language of religion, but in fact he was the president of the war times who came out of it assuming that Iran is defenseless and needs security," said Vali Nasr, Iran expert and author of the book "Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History". "The United States is hostile to Iran; and the revolution, the muslim republic and nationalism are not separated from each other" and should so be protected.
As part of this vision, the muslim Revolutionary defender Corps (IRGC) has evolved from paramilitary force to a powerful security, policy and economy institution that has become central to Iran's wider influence in the region. Chamenei besides promoted the "Resistance Economy" to advance self-sufficiency in the face of severe Western sanctions, maintained a strong skepticism towards cooperation with the West, and reacted firmly to critics who claimed that his focus on defence blocks much needed reforms.
However, his governments were put to a serious test over the years, including in 2009, erstwhile protesters who went out on the streets due to, as they claimed, falsified presidential elections met with violent repressions, and in 2022 erstwhile they protested on women's rights.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for his government was January, erstwhile protests caused by economical difficulties turned into national shocks, and many protesters explicitly demanded the overthrow of the muslim republic. The reaction of the authorities led to 1 of the most brutal confrontations since the 1979 Revolution.
Critics considered him besides detached from a young society that sought to improvement and improve the economical situation, alternatively of isolationism and continuous wars in hiding with the US and Israel.
"The Iranians paid besides advanced a price for specified a advanced insistence on national independency – as a consequence they lost the Iranian population due to the fact that they no longer believed in the wisdom of this independence," Nasr said.
Early years
Born in 1939 in the sacred Shiite city of Meszhed in northeastern Iran, Chamenei was the boy of a well-known Muslim and cultural leader Azerbaijanin of neighboring Iraq. The household first settled in Tebriza, northwestern Iran, and then moved to Meszhedu, a place willingly visited by pilgrims, where Chamenei's father ran an Azerbaijani mosque.
Chamenei described his mother, Chadijeh Mirdamadi, as an avid reader of the Koran and books which instilled in her boy love for literature and poetry, and later supported him erstwhile he joined the movement against the Pahlavi dynasty.
Chamenei began his education at the age of four, studying the Quran, and graduated from a primary school at the first muslim school in Mesheda. He did not postgraduate from advanced school, alternatively he attended theological schools and studied with recognized muslim scholars at the time, specified as his father and Sheikh Hashem Ghazwini. In subsequent years, he continued to survey in the more prestigious Shiite higher education centres in Nadzafa and Kom.
W Kom learned and developed close relations with many another well-known Muslim scholars, including Ayatollah Chomeini, who enjoyed popularity among young seminarians due to his opposition to chess.
Chameni conducted law classes and lectures from the explanation of public theology, which besides allowed him to scope the increasing audience, especially young students who began to be disappointed with the monarchy.
The Monarchy then regained absolute power after a coup organized by MI6 and the CIA in 1953, in which the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was removed from power after he attempted to nationalize the Iranian oil industry.
As a political activist, Chamenei was repeatedly arrested by the Secret Chess Police (SAVAK) and sentenced to exile to a distant city of Iranshahr in southeast Iran. However, he returned to attend protests in 1978, which led to the fall of Pahlawa's rule.
Supreme leader
After the overthrow of the Chamenei monarchy, he became a key figure in the process of creating a fresh Iran.
In 1980 he briefly served as Minister of Defence, and after the outbreak of the Iraqi-Iran War, he became head of the muslim Revolutionary defender Corps (IRGC). As a keen speaker, he besides assured himself of the influential position of president of Friday prayers in Tehran.
1981 proved to be a breakthrough for Chamenei. He lost power in his right hand after miraculously avoided the attack carried out by Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an opposition group that after the conflict with Chomeini began an armed uprising against the recently formed Iranian theocracy. In the same year Chamenei won the presidential election, becoming Iran's first cleric president.
In 1989 Khomeini's death became a turning point for the muslim republic. Prior to his death, Khomeini dismissed his longtime successor, Ajatollah Hossein Ali Montazer, due to criticism of mass executions of prisoners in 1988.
The Council appointed for the revision of the Constitution appointed Chamenei. In order to accomplish this, the Council had to mitigate the requirements required to take the highest position in the country. Chamenei did not hold the title hojatoleslam – a advanced title of Shiite clergyman.
“I don’t think I deserve this position; possibly you do. It would be symbolic leadership, not actual leadership," Chamenei said.
However, his leadership was far from symbolic.
Chamenei's first word as ajatollah came under the sign of efforts to rebuild a country destroyed by the eight-year war against Iraq. Over a million people died in the conflict, and the economy was ruined. The conflict besides fueled the reluctance of the global community due to its perceived inaction after Iraq's usage of chemical weapons against Iranian forces and civilians. While inactive president, Chamenei frequently visited front lines, gaining loyalty to the muslim Revolutionary defender Corps and learning the reality of war firsthand.
"He is the leader whose formation grew in the war with Iraq – this shaped his views on interior and abroad politics. erstwhile he became an absolute leader, he focused on building a military and paramilitary apparatus for siege purposes, for continuous resistance," said Narges Bajaghli, associate prof. of anthropology and mediate east studies at Johns Hopkins University.
However, the moods began to change in the 1990s. The country desperately needed investment, and revolutionary enthusiasm began to decline somewhat. Some, exhausted by the war, wanted Iran to return to the global arena.
This conviction translated into a crushing triumph by reformer Mohammad Chatami in the 1997 election, a proponent of rapprochement with the West and a promoter of the "dialogue between civilizations".
Chamenei's skepticism and distrust towards the West, however, remained unwavering. He saw the voices behind the reforms, besides in the ranks of the military and paramilitary apparatus, as a threat to the position quo. Therefore, according to Bajaghli, he decided to make a unchangeable electoral block of loyal supporters against reformers.
"Chamanei never had a natural base compared to Chomeini," said Bajaghli, author of the book "Iran Framed". "Therefore, he has allocated a large deal of resources for the renewal of education and training for young generations [under the paramilitary system] to aid them advance."
This meant giving the muslim Revolutionary defender Corps a free hand in building a network of businesses that would let it to dominate the Iranian economy, while at the same time intensifying training programs, especially for younger members of the Basque volunteer paramilitary forces. Although they were a limited social group, they developed according to Chamenei's attitude, who resisted the West and received immense resources. More importantly, as Bajaghli said, they were ready to fight and die.
These fresh ranks of paramilitary forces were called upon to suppress national protests that broke out after the controversial triumph of Mahmud Ahmadinejad, a fierce opponent of the West, in the 2009 presidential election. At this time, the fresh generation of Iranians – born after 1979 – was little delicate to anti-imperialist and anti-colonial narratives that inspired the revolution of their parents.
In what was then considered to be the most serious challenge for Chamenei's leadership, hundreds of thousands of protesters went to the streets under the Green Movement's name, which the media called the Green Movement to question the election results and express support for the defeated reformer candidate, Mira Hosejn Musawi. While protesters claimed the elections were rigged to win Ahmadinejad, Chamenei supported the results. According to Amnesty International, thousands were arrested and dozens killed.
Iranian authorities accused Western countries of fueling social unrest to overthrow the spiritual establishment. “You [West] should bear work for your actions,” Ahmadinejad said.
"The Iranian people... would strike those who had bad intentions so hard that they would lose their way home."
Neither peace nor war.
Chamenei was besides pragmatic. He felt that the fight against the West should be fought with different strategies: resisting but besides negotiating, if necessary, as the observers said.
In 2015, the country faced paralyzing global sanctions linked to the atomic programme. In order to keep interior stableness and strengthen legitimacy, Chamenei saw the request to alleviate economical pressure.
He so gave the green light to the negotiations of then president Hassan Rouhani with the West, which led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA). The groundbreaking agreement, signed by Iran and the planet powers, aimed at limiting Tehran's atomic program in exchange for softening sanctions.
"It was a minute of pragmatism – sometimes state protection requires compromises," Nasr said. "Chamenei did not advocate politics or peace or war with the United States. He felt that Iran had to prosecute independency from the United States, which he felt was inherently against Iran's interests." From this perspective, "the atomic agreement was not a standardization [from the US], but a narrow arms control agreement akin to the 1 that the US concluded with the USSR," Nasr said.
However, 3 years after signing this agreement, president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it, thus ending the close-up. erstwhile Washington imposed a fresh set of sanctions on Iran, Chamenei returned to a more aggressive attitude, excluding negotiations with the US and supporting a gradual breach of the agreement. In the following years, Iran resumed uranium enrichment to 60%, a level at which it could be converted more rapidly to 90% uranium suitable for weapon production. Iran insisted – and inactive insists – that its atomic program was of a purely civilian nature. In 2003, Chamenei issued a fatwa prohibiting the production, usage and retention of atomic weapons.
Faced with severe Western sanctions and rising inflation, protests broke out in 2019 in Iran following the government's decision to rise gasoline prices. safety forces were charged with violent suppression of demonstrations in which, according to Amnesty International, more than 100 people were killed. Chamenei called protesters “bandits” and accused counter-revolutionists and abroad enemies of fueling unrest.
In the face of interior turmoil and increasing isolation, the presidential elections brought triumph to Ebrahim Raisi – a advanced prosecutor who met with criticism for ties to mass executions in the late 1980s. – at the lowest attendance in muslim republic history.
With a close ally, specified as Raisi, in power, Chamenei promoted the alleged "resistance economy" based on Iran's interior capabilities and at the same time leading its operations to the East – an approach that did not bring tangible results.
National protests in 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody for alleged violation of the mandatory hijab wearing law posed another serious challenge for Chamenei. Ajatollah met with criticism as the individual liable for social restrictions imposed on the population and the brutal suppression of demonstrations by safety forces. According to Amnesty International, over 500 people died.
Chamenei again considered the full substance a substance of national security. He blamed Western and regional opponents for fueling unrest, arguing that the protests did not affect the death of Amini or wearing hijab, but were the consequence of abroad intervention. "It is about independence, resistance, strength and power of muslim Iran," he said. "That's the point."
‘Resistance axis’
According to Chamenei, independency and power were besides essential outside the country to keep a "outstretched defence" that would deter possible aggressors or abuses from opponents, including the US and Israel.
This translated into creating a network of substitute relationships and transferring arms cognition and resources to the constellation of allies outside Iran – the alleged "axis of resistance", Chamenei's most influential strategical project.
The main architect of this strategy was Kasem Sulejmani, a staunch supporter of Chamenei and commander of the Iranian forces of Al-Kuds, an elite wing of the IRGC primarily liable for abroad operations. Sulejmani was murdered by the United States in 2020.
The alliance included Hezbollah, Lebanon, erstwhile president Bashar al-Assad, Syria, Hamas, Palestine, Huti, Yemen, and armed groups in Iraq.
However, the axis began to fall apart after the Hamas attack on confederate Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel then started a genocide war in the Gaza Strip, in which more than 70,000 people were killed, and most of Palestine’s territory was destroyed. Many high-ranking Hamas leaders died in the war.
Israel besides attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing many members of his leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah's secretary-general. Then in December 2024, rebel forces overturned Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria. The corridor utilized by Iran to replenish Hezbollah's stock – by Syria – was no longer profitable.
Faced with the weakening of Iran's allies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been pushing for decades to attack Iran's atomic program, has utilized this moment.
On June 13, 2025, the Israeli Army, following the cognition of the United States, attacked Iran, killing dozens of its high-ranking atomic commanders and leading atomic scientists, attacking respective atomic facilities and civilian and military infrastructure. Israel claimed that the mark of the attack was to prevent Iran from producing atomic weapons, despite separate assessments by the U.S. intelligence and the global Atomic Energy Agency that Tehran is not in the process. This attack occurred erstwhile Tehran was negotiating with Washington about its atomic program.
Iran responded with a hail of missiles to Tel Aviv. The full developed war lasted almost 2 weeks, and its culmination was the US dropping bunker bombs on 3 key atomic objects.
Netanjahu threatened to kill Chamenei while Trump demanded his “unconditional surrender”.
This did not have much effect. "Intelligent people who know Iran and its past would never address this nation with threats, due to the fact that the Iranian people will not surrender, and the Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly origin irreparable damage," Chamenei powerfully replied.
For some, the integrity of Chamenei, who erstwhile met with criticism for his mentality of the siege state, took on a different meaning after the 12-day war with Israel. The Iranians opposed Israel's calls for rebellion against the muslim republic.
However, the effect of gathering around the flag did not last long.
The paralysing sanctions have heavy burdened the country's economy. At the end of December, protests against currency collapse turned into a nationwide shock demanding the end of Chamenei's rule. This has led to the most violent repression in decades. The Iranian authorities reported that more than 3000 people were killed, but the American human rights organization estimated this figure to be over 7000. Al Jazeera is incapable to independently verify this data.
After these shocks, the country found itself at a crossroads. While during the erstwhile rounds of protests the state could either grant certain subsidies or alleviate social constraints, this time there was small anticipation of resolving the underlying economical problems that caused the demonstrations. Iran had to make tough compromises in order to get a softening of sanctions and repair the economy – or face further shocks, experts say.
This led to further rounds of negotiations between the US and Iran on reducing Tehran's atomic activities in exchange for leniency. Despite the declaration of progress, respective rounds of talks in the United arabian Emirates and Geneva did not bring a breakthrough. The United States has stated that it wants Iran to completely dismantle its atomic infrastructure, limit the ballistic rocket arsenal and halt supporting regional allies. Although Tehran has shown flexibility in discussions on restrictions on enrichment of uranium for civilian use, so far it has treated missiles and intermediaries as non-negotiable issues.
Meanwhile, the United States has accumulated the largest military arsenal in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
On February 28, Trump announced that the United States had launched a "serious combat operation" in Iran. In his speech, the president of the United States made it clear that the US is seeking to change the regime.
"The hr of your freedom has arrived," Trump said, addressing the Iranian people at the end of his Saturday morning message. “When we're done, take over your government. It will be yours. This is most likely your only chance for generations.”
He said he was “ready to do” what no erstwhile US president did.
“We will see how you react.”
Written by Virginia Pietromarchi, 28 February 2026.
for:Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: The leader who shared Iran’s defiance
(choice and crowd. PZ)
(*) subtitle added by translatora
